


On File and Film

by StoneShipper



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Drugs, Eating Disorders, F/F, F/M, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Heavy Drinking, Multi, Other, Polyamory, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 07:13:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7498998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoneShipper/pseuds/StoneShipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SU human AU, slow burn Pearlmethyst.<br/>Pearl Kallis is having a rough early adulthood. Her parents didn't accept her, her friend did, but then she got really drunk at a pride parade and now Rose won't even talk to her. Still living with Rose, Pearl convinces herself that she deserves the passive aggressive environment and needs to get back to her boring responsible ways. But despite everything, she still finds herself drawn to the excitement of a new crew of characters in her life as the memory of The Stranger lingers in her brain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: EVERYTHING I CAN DO TO TRIGGER SOMEONE I BET I HAVE DONE.  
> I don't have many of the sometimes troubling behaviors I write about, nor do I practice religion. What I write about them comes from listening to the stories of those who do. If I offend you, please tell me how as nicely as possible and I will try to make amends.

Was it the hot June sun beating down that made everything seem so warped, or was this a new reality all together? This world was strange, and loud, and had enough spirit to be considered slightly haunted. Bright colors ran past her in flashes. The once familiar streets beneath her feet were now coated with glitter and streamers beyond recognition. As impossible as it was, the young woman was honestly considering a Party City store might have been lifted into the atmosphere,in the process tipping on it’s side and spilling it’s contents onto Beach City beneath it. 

Pearl’s conspiracy theory was shattered as a bike swerved to the right of her and blasted its’ air horn. She couldn’t believe she’d taken off work for this. She had never been one for crowds. Matter of fact, if it were up to her she’d take the first opportunity to turn tail and flee to lock herself in the most solitary place she could find such as an abandoned bomb shelter. Yes, a bomb shelter would be nice right now. But, it wasn’t up to her that she was being dragged through this maze of bright colors and deafening sounds by the arm of her supposed “best friend”. Instead of an escape, the introverted college student would just have to nurse her third dixie cup of street vender sangria, said “best friend” had so strongly suggested she purchase, and pray for liquid courage. Hell, forget courage, she’d accept tolerance at this point.

It wasn’t fair for her to say her friend was forcing her to do something against her will. Pearl knew that Rose meant well. But Rose was the explorer of the two, and Pearl was the careful planner. It had been that way since sophomore year of highschool. The carefree optimist acted without thinking, from dying her hair pink on a whim, to bringing a girl to homecoming and a guy to prom. But when her boldness failed or got her into trouble, loyal Pearl would come up with a way to make everything right again. In return, Rose would push Pearl out of her comfort zone from time to time and get her to try new things. If it wasn’t for the sometimes demanding expectations Rose pressured her with to keep an open mind, Pearl would never have dabbled in journalism. Now she was a part time reporter/blogger for The City Wave, Beach City's’ third most read newspaper. It may sound like a unbalanced deal to an outsider, but Pearl cherished that dynamic more than anything. It was exactly that caring and spontaneous nature that had caused Pearl to hopelessly fall for her in the past six years.

Pearl winced and finished off her cup letting it drop to the ground. She normally wouldn’t litter, especially not in the company of Rose , the Beach City Environmental Committee President. But, then again, Pearl still had a tinge of jealousy fueled anger towards Rose and perhaps doing a small part in destroying one of her many loves in life was poetic justice in a way. No, she wasn’t pety enough to hold a grudge over being dragged to a street fair. In fact, what she held she’d hardly consider a grudge. 

Unrequited love. Pearl wondered how many people in this crowd had been unfortunate enough to feel how she felt deep down. She looked at the faces running past her, all these people of all walks of life celebrating the freedom to have such an unstable and fruitless pain. Celebrating it almost seemed sarcastic. Since coming out as a lesbian last winter she had only witnessed pain and rejection. Rose, of course, had known since the summer of their junior year of high school and didn’t mind. Rose identified as bisexual herself. But, Pearl had waited to come out to her parents for four years previous. She had been so scared to come out because of her family’s strong Catholic roots. It took her parents, Mr and Mrs.Kallis , long enough to be comfortable with the fact their darling Pearl wanted to be a scientist. Therefore, Pearl was pretty sure she’d be considered the spawn of Satan himself if she ever did admit to being attracted to women as well. She was wrong, she was not labeled the child of a devil, she was disowned.

That meant Pearl could no longer afford Delmarva University and had to drop out just three semesters away from acquiring Bachelor's degrees in both Chemistry and Engineering . Which meant she could no longer live in the dorms with a food plan. In Pearls' time of need, Rose and her fiance Greg,had been kind enough to take her in. Greg was a kind guy, he even had helped her enroll in community college so she could continue her education, as well as helped her find a job at a factory clothing outlet store in the mall. Greg was warm, and kind hearted, and very relaxed with when Pearl paid him her percentage of the rent. But all this didn’t change the fact that she now had to watch Rose shower him with the affection Pearl had always wished would be hers. Pearl couldn’t hate Greg, though she would swear up and down Rose could do better,that didn’t mean she wasn’t known to occasionally passively insult him. She felt guilty about her resentment of her best friends’ happiness, but she knew it would be wrong to purposefully break them up for her own happiness. So currently, she lived in an apartment so full of love, but had none herself.

Rose had been very supportive in the transition as well. But, despite her efforts, Pearl’s current depression remained hard to shake. Rose still tried to pull her friend out of her funk after the six months she’d been staying with them. As far as Pearl was concerned, this street fair was just another attempt. Rose had been bugging her about coming to this “Pride Parade” with her for weeks. Constantly saying that these were her people now, and they would always accept her. But Pearl didn’t know any of these people, and quite honestly she didn’t want to. Now she was regretting reluctantly agreeing to come. In the midst of her diluted agony Pearl easily accepted Roses’ offer to buy the first drink. It no longer mattered to her if the street vender had the right qualifications to be selling liquor and passed health inspections, she just needed a drink and the sangria went down like water. Somewhere between the second and fourth cup,Rose had also bought her a “Born This Way” cape, a rainbow colored fake mohawk which took up close to her entire head, a sparkly superhero mask, a multi colored boa, and a “Closets Are For Clothes” shirt. All of which Pearl had somehow come to now wear somewhere in the past cup. It was all part of what Rose called “Coming Out In Style.” Rose herself had bought and adorn a “Switch Hitter” shirt in pink,blue,and violet.

Pearl felt herself being pulled abruptly through a hole in the crowd and emerged at a metal fence like barrier. In front of her the main event, the parade, was carrying on down Main Street. But, a disheartened Pearl could only grasp the metal bar and look down at the street. This wasn’t working for her, Rose could see that and crossed her arms on the bar next to her.  
“Hey.” She tried to comfort her ill friend. “You can’t be this down and look that fabulous.”

Pearl scuffed and kicked the barrier gently with her foot. “Got some bad news for you Rose, I’m afraid I can.”  
Rose groaned “You’re impossible you know that? You could have any girl here and you just want to wallow in your self pity. Try to live a little!”  
Pearl shook her head. “I can’t have any girl here.”  
Rose laughed . “Well sure you could! You’re amazing Pearl!”  
Pearl looked up abruptly with a cross look across her tightened lips. “I CAN’T HAVE ANY GIRL HERE!”  
Rose wasn’t going to take that tone, no matter how drunk Pearl might be right now. “What are you yelling at me for?!?! I’m just trying to be your friend!! And I’m doing a damn good job at it may I admit!”

Pearl gritted her teeth. Friends was exactly the problem. If Rose was this oblivious than she should just stop trying. There was no one like Rose, no one that made her feel the way Rose did.  
“ Fine then! Pick a girl! Any girl! I’ll prove I can’t get her!”

“FINE!” Rose looked out at the parade and pointed at an old Chevrolet turned into a float with a few people hanging off its’ platform seats. “See that one in the silver bowtie! Go Get her!”  
Pearls eyes locked in on her target. “I will!” With that Pearl pushed up onto the barrier and climbed over it. Her landing wasn’t so smooth as she stumbled upon impact but she recovered. 

“Shit! Pearl! I didn’t mean it! Get back here!” Rose grabbed her arm but Pearl shook it loose.  
“No! I’m gonna go be ...INCOMPETENT!” 

Oh no, Pearl had used improper grammar and was too intoxicated to realize it. Even worse, she had now started to take off across the Parade to catch up to the Chevrolet. A police officer had taken notice and was gaining on her as she stumbled along side of her target. She nearly tripped over herself when she saw the bowtie girl on the back of the car laughing at her and offering her a hand up. She gripped that offer as if her life depended on it and her new accomplice lifted her up onto the car making the cop stop running. For once in her life, Pearl accepted a ride from a complete stranger, and had been in a police chase. Her heart was pounding, the girl next to her was still laughing.

“Maybe next time buy your own ride if you want in. But I’m totally with you! DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM!!” The stranger gave a victorious holler and raised her opposite fist high into the sky. 

Pearl just stared. The adrenaline still pounding through her head. This girl didn’t seem to care at all that she didn’t know Pearl, she was just enjoying herself and still holding Pearls’ hand holding it up to wave to the citizens who still remained behind the metal barricades. 

The Stranger had the silver bowtie around her neck but no collared shirt to hide it’s velcro strap. She was wearing party shutter shades which Pearl could have sworn went out of style when she was in seventh grade. She had long, waist length hair that had obviously been strippped of all natrual color to a greyish white but had been temporarily and sporadically been worked on with multi colored hair chalk and contrasted nicely against her dark tan skin. If Pearl was to guess her ethnicity right now, she’d have to say the girl was closely related to the Lucayan peoples of the Caribbean. The stranger was wearing a silver and black suit vest over a grey babydoll t shirt that had the words “Significant Otter” and a picture of the aquatic mammal. Pearl used her free hand to cover a chuckle, she swore puns would be the death of her someday. But she did have to admit, the t-shirt was just tight enough to show off the curves of her follow law abstructor. Her drunken stare followed the curves down to the stranger’s hips where the shirt gave way to a pair of tight black jeans laced up on each leg like sneakers with rainbow shoelaces.  
Behind her cheap plastic eye protection the stranger noticed Pearl looking her over and had to admit she’d been doing that same to her new guest.  
“Hey ‘Clothes Are For Closets’! First time I’m guessing!”

Pearl quickly snapped out of her curves induced coma and looked up nodding as a slight blush crept across her face for being caught. At the same time the MC of the parade put on a track everyone was all too familiar with and the crowd began to roar off key.  
The Stranger tried to start a conversation. “Are you enjoying yourself so far?!?”  
Pearl was struggling to make out her words over the crowd. “WHAT!?!”  
“I SAID ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF SO FAR?”  
Pearl’s not sure if she really heard what she did or if she had just heard what she wanted to hear. She bit her lip and replied with a slur. “I THINK YOU’RE VERY ATTRACTIVE TOO!”  
The stranger laughed leaning her head back then centered herself and kissed Pearls’ hand chastely. “WHY THANK YOU LADY BUT YOU HAVE PUT FAR TOO MANY DRINKS TO YOUR LIPS THIS EVENING!”  
Pearls brazen buzz forgot about the bet for somehow her liquid courage had finally hit her. She smirked. “I’D RATHER PUT SOMETHING ELSE TO MY LIPS THIS EVENING!”

The bowtied stranger grinned. “COME AND GET IT THEN!”

Pearl wasn’t one to back away from this challenge and snuck her free hand past the strangers’ chin grabbing the back of her neck, her fingers running through the thick flowing mane far different from her own hidden pixie cut. The stranger was taken by surprise and let out a short gasp as Pearl pulled her in close. She smelled wonderful, warm, exotic, Pearl bent her head down and placed a short sensual kiss on the girl’s lips. Past Pearl's ability to taste her own alcohol on her lips, this new girl tasted wonderfully fruity. The stranger kissed her back wrapping her free arm around Pearls waist and Pearl nearly climbed into her lap but the crowd's roars of approval caused Pearl to pull away self consciously.

Pearl blushed looking at the stranger’s askew but still intact shades as she laughed.  
“Wow! Not bad newly out! How about one more for instagram?!”

Pearl nodded, who cared about social media, that was the best thing she’d had in a long time! A little more of The Strangers passion couldn’t be so bad right? Man, she was not thinking coherently, or straight. The stranger pulled out their phone and wrapped her arm around Pearls waist again pulling her into another kiss as she snapped what was apparently called a “selfie”. Pearl melted into this new girl’s free roaming lips and hands determined to stop her if she got too handsy but she didn’t. They broke apart briefly and the bowtied kisser prompted Pearl to stand up with her, clenching her hand in a victory pose lifting them above their heads as the crowd cheered at the gay affection. Pearl looked at the happy people below her finally feeling like she could call them her peers. Camera flashes from the crowd and cheers caused her to salute from her sparkly mask out and lean her head back laughing. Truly, genuinely laughing. Then she was pulled off the float.

Rose practically pulled her friend's arm off. The stranger did not let go easy but retracted her hand when the crowd rushed the float as it approached the end of the parade. Rose hooked her arm with Pearls’ and walked away with her, Pearl still in a drunken dreamlike haze didn’t put up much resistance. The whole way back to the car Rose was lecturing Pearl on her recent behavior.  
“What has gotten into you!” She asked her screwy stumbling friend.  
“L-O-V-E!” Pearl replied with a giggle.  
“That’s not love Pearl! That’s a stranger! On a parade float! That you boarded illegally! On a dare! While drunk! This isn’t you Pearl!”  
“Funny.” She hiccupped. “I think I know that I’m Pearl.”

The car ride back to the apartment was silent and full of passive disapproval from her friend. But Pearl was feeling pretty damn great. She knew she’d probably forget most of the details since she was in no ability to focus on writing a diary entry. But as she showered and collapsed onto her futon at 7pm for the night, she was sure she wouldn’t regret that day. How very wrong she was….  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Author Note: My famous cliffhangers. So here’s what’s up with this story. I’m going to explore many different genders and sexualitys in this story, maybe even polyamorous relationships. I’m planning on having you guys find out a character is gender non binary pansexual. My chapters are going to be long but infrequent (sorry). But, it won’t all be sunny. There will be abuse, there will be eating disorders, there will be mental illness, there will be casual drug and alcohol use. Lots of plot, very much plot, and some intimacy of course but I’m gonna make you guys wait longer for it this time. Feel like reading more and see if I royally fuck this up, stay tuned.


	2. Resist The Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl Kallis deals with the repercussions of her drunken moments. The harshest being those of her own mind. Her boss pushes her to snap out of it, and she meets a few new characters in the mall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Drinking, Eating Disorders,Emotional Abuse, Violence, and Domestic Abuse all mentioned in the following chapter.

Pearl walked out of the front door of the apartment into the open air. The wind was whistling, the sun was shinning, the birds were chirping. For once in her life she wanted to strangle a bird. Which is ironic because so many people have told her in a past life she might have been one with her slightly more than average pointy noise and the fact that her voice get much higher when upset. But why’d they have to be so loud? It was as if they were mocking the still hung over college age student with their insistent song of “The world’s so beautiful isn’t it?”. 

She never liked it when she’d turn to alcohol for help, but there was so much in her life she needed help with and she knew she’d never ask anyone for help. Even as she dealt with the half blurry vision and a throbbing headache something in her still desired to stop by the local liquor store in her way to work and pick up some coconut rum. 

Rose hadn’t talked to her at all this morning, and Greg had tried to but Rose gave him the death glare and he stopped. Pearl knew she deserved this treatment for how she had acted. How she had acted? She shuttered, the faster she forgot about that the better. She was not a party animal, she was a struggling, not completely educated, small city reporter who currently worked at a factory clothing outlet called The Void. Her life wasn’t exciting, she was boring and responsible. That was safe Pearl, that was hard working Pearl. Yesterdays' Pearl should never emerge again, she just messes everything up.

With that, the ginger sales woman took a sip from her two liter jug of water. She knew she’d have to down the whole jug before arriving at the mall if she wanted to at least appear sober and keep her job. After all, Rose and Greg weren’t putting up with her for free anymore. She bent down and picked up this mornings' stack of papers. Yes, not only did Pearl write for the papers but she read them too. She was old fashioned like that. She tried to read the paper she wrote for, but even she admitted that it was mostly trash and moved it to the back of the pile. She walked through the courtyard of the apartment complex towards the road her head in the papers. It probably wasn't the best idea to drive today and he mall was only about a twenty minute walk away. So, why not read and walk at the same time? Thumbing through the politics and art sections of the number one paper, The Beach City Review, trying hard to focus though the words blurred occasional, Pearl was able to block out the crying noises of fatherless babies and the pain of down on their luck addicts that she called her neighbors. As she finished an article on the current gas prices and took another gulp of water, she flipped the paper over to the Beach City Events page and saw herself staring back.

It was a classic spit take moment as the liquid rushed back up her throat and outwards into a garden. Pearl grasped her throat with one hand wheezing and steadied herself against the brick apartment complex wall. Finally catching her breath she brought the paper into view once more only to find the image hadn’t changed. She tried hard to tell herself that the character up on that float wasn’t her. She hadn’t given the photographer permission to use this in their article about the celebration! No, wait. She was now remembering that all participants had to sign press release papers to be in the parade. She’d never signed a release, but then again she hadn’t asked to be in the parade either. She had no grounds to press charges.

‘Look on the bright side.’ The worried subject pointed out to herself. ‘No one is going to know that it’s you. You’re almost completely covered in things you’d never wear and you did take all that time to scrub the glitter off. Plus, it’s a black and white photo due to printing costs. You’re completely safe.’ 

Even all of this truth couldn’t give Pearl an ounce of relief. She knew it was her, and there were thousands of these printed all of the city. Not to mention permanently in the archives of the paper, and probably the digital copy on the website as well! The internet was forever! Even if they didn’t know her name, the image might be damaging enough if someone recognizes her! Pearl throw the paper to the ground and bolted towards the Mall. She may have been freaking out, she may need the run to calm down, but she was still going to show up to work. She was responsible, yet at the same time, running from her problems.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four hours later Pearl had calmed down a bit. No one had suspected a thing when she had showed up to work. The run was sobering as it was, but having to down the rest of her water to recover from it had worked even better. When her manager , a short and bossy woman of faith, had asked why she was so sweaty, Pearl had replied that she had woken up a bit late and had to book it to get here on time. The manager took a look at her and nodded in approval of the effort then told her she’d have to change into something else because The Void employees had respect and Pearl would be an abomination to represent the company as the disheveled poorly groomed girl she currently was. Which to the average person may have seemed a bit harsh, but the manager then told her to pick any outfit off the clearance rack and gave her a free bottle of body spray to help the cause.

Pearl smiled because she knew she was the manager’s favorite. She almost felt close enough to consider her a friend, but of course it was clear that it was best for them to stay strictly professional. Not that Pearl could blame her, Pearl wasn’t very good at making and keeping friends. But besides Rose, this might be the closest relationship she had. Wow, Pearl tried not to get upset over that realization.

After all, the manager was far from the worst. She was an American born Muslim, she had adopted the faith in her later teen years. She had also adopted a new name, but even the least culturally ignorant person had trouble pronouncing it, so the workers had came up with another one for her. She always wore a green stone close to her chest claiming it had the power to sooth her and strengthen her resolve. Whether it actually worked or not no one really wanted to find out, but the “powerful” gems name was Peridot and so she was hers, Peri for short. Peri wasn’t the most open minded individual but she had great morals hidden under her tough demeanor. Pearl had always admired how Peri adapted the traditional hijab and always wore it with outfits comprised of The Void clothing, not to be “decent” or promote inequality of sexes, but to make a statement that Peridot believed her mind should be what people really wanted to look at. 

Pearl wished she could make such a bold statement and stand out like that, but her past experiences with standing out had never gone so well. As she sat there folding the summer line of lightweight khakis she let out a sigh at her drunken adventures that past weekend. It was starting to stress her out less and less, the rhythmic and precise method of folding was helping significantly. A daily retune was good, it was safe, it was so...Pearl like.

‘Yes’ She decided ‘I could keep doing this week after week, and keep a low profile, and no harm could ever come my way. I don’t need to change. This is good.’ 

Unfortunately, she knew the world would never follow her lifestyle choice. Even as she sat there contemplating on her life and wondering how to get Rose to forgive her, she was forced to look on at a new store being arranged across the mall. The mall, like many things, was ever changing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three weeks passed, and the only thing that had directly changed in Pearl's life was what she was folding. This time, it was a line of breathable cotton polos. Well the first statement wasn’t exactly true,the store across the mall was up and running! Not to her amusement either. The new store attracted a loud crowd, and played even louder music. 

But, the far more important thing was that Rose still hadn’t fully forgiven her. Now and then Rose would give her a short sentence but absolutely no eye contact. Pearl was a little worn down from the stress of living in the passive agressive environment and beating herself up about it. It was starting to become noticeable. Her shoulders sank in and she looked as though the slight breeze of opening a door could knock her down. To be truthful, Pearl hadn’t been eating well since the fight had begun. It wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry, she was just going through one of those periods where she didn’t feel worthy of food.

Pearl knew this was irrational, she knew it was a problem. A childhood therapist had diagnosed her with anorexia when she was only ten. From what she had been told, it came from a deep fear of disappointing others, and once she felt she had it seemed clear that in her mind there was no way to seek condolence and she might as well wither away. She’d been lapsing like this since seventh grade. But now with her parents, then her best friend shunning her, Pearl was hitting one of the lowest points she’d have had the displeasure of experiencing. She’d be worthy of hanging onto life this time when Rose accepted her apologies. But even then, food often made Pearl feel sick. Most of the time feel sick was an understatement. Even the little Pearl had eaten these past three weeks she had had to fight from coming back up.

Her stomach rumbled and she frowned checking her watch. It was one thirty in the afternoon. Quickly she placed her arm down and picked up the unfinished polo hoping her boss hadn’t seen. That was a foolish thing to assume, for nothing went unnoticed with Peri around. Even though the shorter woman had been dealing with a customer at the time, she had noticed her most diligent employee stop mid fold and check the wrist watch. A most peculiar act indeed, which caused Peri to walk over once the costumer’s request had been satisfied.

Peridot tapped Pearl on the shoulder, causing her to startle and turn around swiftly.  
“Kallis. It’s time for your break.” the shorter woman said with a stern look.

“Oh no, I’m fine really. I’ll just stay here” Pearl tried her best to give a genuine smile but Peridot wasn’t buying it.

“As much as your work ethic is highly appreciated, I can’t risk keeping you for a fifth break in a row without receiving a Human Resources write up. I am requiring you to take a two hour break from this establishment.” She pushed up her glasses and shrugged.

Pearls eyes widened “Two whole hours! But Peridot, I’m not even hungry.” She mustered a chuckle.

Peridot sighed.  
“Though I am sure you are fabricating that statement.” her stern look emanated a slight hint of empathy. “I regret to inform you that the current status of your digestive track is no concern of mine, I just can’t let you stay on this premises.”  
“Okay, I understand. Let me just finish this stack.”

At that moment Peridot took Pearls wrist away from the stack of polos and smashed a five dollar bill into her palm forcing her to close her fingers around it.

“You will listen to me Pearl. I want you to find your way to the place referred to as the food court and get me a slice of pizza this instant. And buy yourself something as well. I don’t care if it’s a single slice of bread for crying out loud! If you come back here without the receipt, or the receipt doesn’t have an extra edible item on it, I’ll...I'll make you close the store tonight!”   
With that the short yet oddly intimidating woman walked away with her hands to the ceiling muttering to herself.

Pearl stood there and blinked in surprise. She knew Peridot was coming from a good place. The blunt manager was good with thinking logically, but she could never truly communicate her emotional side. Pearl was kind of grateful for that, she didn't exactly want anyone's pity right now. She folded one last shirt then stuffed the bill into her jean vest pocket followed by her hands in her kaikis and walked out her sanctuary of The Void and onto the quiet mall floor.

The food court was down the left wing which meant she had to pass the new store on her way out. It looked like a cave, the entrance appeared to be a garage door of some sorts coated in dripping graffiti as if to glorify the works of unlawful vandals. There was loud, busy sounding music coming out of it that didn’t really mix well with the soft top 40 station playing over the mall loudspeakers. Inside the store appeared to be poorly lit with distinct LED toys and lava lamps creating tiny spontaneous dots of color. The window displayed clothes of distasteful sayings like “Straight Outta Beers.” And “Show Me Your Kitties.”. Pearl just rolled her eyes and kept walking. 

It was then her phone went off disturbing her from a dreamlike state she was using to block out the noise and people around her. She scrambled through her pants pockets and removed the old, worn down flip phone. She had gotten a text, for the first time in weeks. Being a responsible human she walked to the side of the mall aisle and then began to examine the new message. The name showed up as “Lazuli” which brought a little spark of happiness to Pearl's eyes.

Lazuli stood for Lapis Lazuli. Lapis was the adopted child of Pearls’ mothers’ brother. She and Pearl had been close as children. Lapis had often helped Pearl when she was upset as a kid and Pearl tried to do the same for Lapis. Lapis’s father seemed verbally abusive and restrictive of Lapis which inspired a fight reaction in his daughter rather than a flight reaction. They started to grow apart in late elementary school when Lapis started to grow bitter and resentful of nearly everything. The child became a fighter in their school, and as a result Lapis’s parents moved to a town a little farther north of Beach City. Though Pearl and Lapis had grown apart, they still kept in touch from time to time. When Pearl and her parents had that falling out in December, Lapis had offered to help Pearl in any way possible and assured her that she could always call on her if, in her words,“ haters need to be taught a lesson.”. Pearl knew Lapis might have been joking, but needless to say she had not taken up the generous offer.

The message was to ask Pearl if she was planning on attending Lapis’s 22nd birthday bash next weekend. Pearl had completely forgotten she’d been invited and honestly, was planning on saying she couldn’t make it anyways. But regardless, a birthday bash invitation required a gift. The dazed and unwillfully free Void worker put her phone back in her pocket and started her grudging walk towards the food court once more, her head swirling with what little she knew about her estranged cousin.

Pearl was so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice herself move into the line for Fish Stew Pizza. The person in front of her turned around and snapped her out of her haze.  
“Hey, welcome to the grind am I right?” The stranger smiled up at her.

Pearl shook her head quick and looked down. “Um. Excuse me?”

“You know.” The stranger held out her hand palm up and shrugged. “Lunch breaks and so on. Though I can’t say I’ve seen you around here before.”

Pearl studies the new person’s dark eyes suspiciously. “ How did you know I was on a lunch break?”

The stranger laughed “ Well duh! You’re Pearl from The Void who never takes any breaks!’

Pearl took a step back and held out her hand in a stop sign. “Wha! H-how did you know that?!?”

The shorter woman laughed harder with a devilish grin and pointed to Pearl’s vest breast. “You left your name tag on, Pearl!”

The community college student looked at her name tag and blushed embarrassed. “Oh. Well um I, guess that’s me. And you?”

The new encounter grinned and pointed to herself now. “Name’s Ame ( pronounced Ah-me). Short for Amethyst. Started here two weeks ago at Parker’s.”

Parker’s….oh yes! That’s what the graffiti sign had said. The new store. Ugh, the new store. Pearl tried her best not to look displeased.  
“Well um...Ame...how do you like it here?”

“To be honest Pearly girl, their pizza isn’t the best. Not for a Chicago born anyways. But I’m a regular none the less.”

Pearl flinched at the easy use of a nickname from this stranger, not sure whether to accept it or not. But she decided to correct the poor attempt to address her question instead.  
“I didn’t mean the Pizza counter, I meant the…”

“Speaking of Pizza! What do you think you’ll be getting today. There’s still two people ahead of you, but I’d still choose fast.”

Pearl struggled to keep up with this rapidly changing conversation. “I ...it’s not for me. So I guess plain.”

The stranger stuck out her tongue. “Blech! Plain! How boring!”

Pearl put her hands on her hips, who was this new girl to just waltz into her life wearing tattered skinny jeans and a black Johnny Ramones muscle tee and start contradicting Pearl on her taste!  
“I’ll let you know the pizza is for my boss and I’d rather not take a risk of being fired!”

The girl in front of her only laughed. “If I were your boss, I’d fire you for lack of creativity if you brought me a plain slice.”

Pearls face flushed with abrupt anger at the rudeness this stranger was displaying “Well you’re not my boss so..” She would have given this "Ame" a tongue lashing if it wasn't for being interrupted.

“Next!”

Amethyst gave her the pause sign and sauntered up to the counter slapping her hand onto the table.

“It’s nice to see you again Ame!” The teenage girl working the counter smiled as if they were friends.

“Likewise Kiki! I have something for you!.” Amethyst removed her hand and unveiled four, slightly crumpled, coupons. “I think you know what this means.” The smug punk grinned from ear to ear.

“Why yes!” Kiki matched her grin. “It appears you are the proud recipient of a free pie! So, what can I get you?”

“Hmmm.” Amethyst grinned and turned to face Pearl. “You know Kiki, I think I’ll just take what you have of the Plain.”

Pearl clutched her fists at her side. “Plain! Really! After the hard time you gave me about that!?!”

“Alright Ame!” Kiki chirped “Coming right up! Oh and our chef had to go home early, family emergency, so feel free to revel in the fact that you’re taking the last of it for the day.”

Amethyst snickered. “Oh I will Kiki, I will.”

“Why you!” Pearl was fuming, that girl had known she wanted Plain and had purposely taken it from her. Even more so, she now had the audacity to put her hand on Pearls shoulder.

“Relax P, I’ll help you pick out a different slice for your boss. She’ll like it, I guarantee.” the Parker's employ smirked trying to be reassuring.

Pearl sighed and place her palm on her forehead. “But you don’t know my boss! Everything has to be in order for her.”

Amethyst just shrugged. “So why don’t you tell me about her a bit?”

Pearl made a list on her fingers. “Bossy, but friendly, conscious, spiritual, but quite logical….wait why am I telling you this?!”

Amethyst thought for a second.   
“Easy, get her the spinach alfredo slice.”

Pearl laughed. “There’s no way! Pizza isn’t meant to have alfredo sauce! She’s going to throw that out the minute she tastes it!”

Amethyst grinned again taking her box from the counter. “Then why don’t we place a wager on it?” She wagged her eyebrows.

Pearl tried not to seem nervous. “Say we were to place a betting clause on this. What would you be willing to lose? I’d lose my job.”

Amethyst smiled. “Oh but you won’t. How’s this. If I’m right, and your boss likes Spinach Alfredo pizza, you have to come over to Parker’s after your shift and let me pick out an outfit for you. If by some bizarre chance I’m wrong…”

Pearl rolled her eyes and folded her arms. 

Amethyst continued “If the universe decides to doop me for once in my life, I’ll come over the The Void after my shift and you get to dress me...for a week”

Pearl suddenly became interested in the chance to clean this rag tag punk rock girl up. She really thought she might be able to make her look classy even.  
“Fine. Deal.” Pearl stuck out her hand and turned to Kiki who had just come back with Amethyst’s pie.  
“Kiki , I’ll take a slice of the Spinach Alfredo.”

Kiki smiled and accepted Pearl’s five dollar bill. “Will that be all?”

Pearl hesitated and gulped. “And um...a small order of fries please?”  
The teenager nodded shyly and finished the order. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amethyst had followed Pearl back to The Void and waited outside to get the results of the wager. Pearl took a gulp and walked to the back to the manager's office and knocked on the door. Peridot opened it promptly and Pearl held out the slice of pizza and the receipt.  
“Oh Pearl, you’re back sooner than expected. Good.” The shorter woman grabbed the receipt and read it over. “And I see you ordered an order of french fries with the change. Not what I would have ordered , but I’m glad to see my hardest worker isn’t sabotaging my sales by flirting with starvation.”

Pearl nodded and gritted her teeth. Ordering the fries had been a big step. But she had only managed to swallow two of them before handing them to Amethyst who finished them without questions. And honestly she still felt a little sick.

“Now…” Peridot took the pizza slice carefully and examined it close. “What is this pizza abomination?”

“It’s a...a….Spinach Alfredo...They were out of plain Peridot. I’m sorry.”

Peridot lift the slice to her mouth. “Somehow I think it’s I who will be sorry.”

Her boss bit down and look puzzled off into space. “It’s...it's not bad!” She swallowed and cleared her throat taking the pizza back into her office. “Acceptable job Kallis, back to work.” And shut the door behind her.

Pearl was stunned as she walked back to find Amethyst waiting outside the door.

“She liked it didn’t she?” The smaller punk smirked as Pearl just nodded her head dumbfounded.

“Ha! Knew it! Guess I’ll be seeing you later cutie.” Amethyst grined making finger guns, flicking them, blowing the imaginary steam off them, put them in her pocket, and walked away.

Pearl was left standing there for a few minutes wondering what the hell just happened and remembering just how unpredictable breaks can be.


End file.
